“Love’s Labour’s Lost” Brings Lesser-known Shakespeare to the Black Box Theater

Mixed-up love letters, football tosses and moody characters dominate Liberty’s production of “Love’s Labour’s Lost,” the Department of Theatre Arts final performance of the school year, running at the Black Box Theater.

A lesser-performed work of William Shakespeare, “Love’s Labour’s Lost” tells the story of the King of Navarre, who along with his three companions decides to swear off romantic relationships with women for three years. Their ambitions quickly change when they meet the Princess of France and her ladies, who arrive to meet with the king to discuss a state issue and quickly cause the men to fall in love.

Flirtation and disguises ensue, leading to an unconventional Shakespearean ending.

“It’s a lesser-known Shakespeare, but it’s definitely a comedy that people are going to enjoy,” said professor Andy Geffken, who directed the show.  “There’s some broad comedy in it, there’s some very witty stuff, but I think this particular show, with the romance and the charm that it has – especially with the youthfulness it has – I think is really going to appeal to our students.”

“Love’s Labour’s Lost” is a special show for Geffken because he acted in the play during his college years at Liberty, and proposed to his now-wife, who was also in the show, during the rehearsal process.

That production was also the first time Geffken worked on a Shakespeare play, and that is the same for many of this production’s cast as well.

“This is the first Shakespeare show that I and the vast majority of the company have worked on, so the text presented an extra challenge to everyone,” the stage manager said.  “I am grateful to be able to say that everyone has risen to the challenge in ways that surpassed my expectations.”

Kayla Reichard, who played Rosaline, one of the Queen of France’s ladies, agreed that the language made it challenging.

“The most challenging part has been finding the constant specificity in the language,” Reichard said.  “Shakespeare isn’t contemporary; you can’t just say it and everyone’s going to understand everything you said.  With Shakespeare, you have to have such clear understanding and image in everything that you’re saying, otherwise it’s going to go over the audience’s head.  It’s a lot more of a challenge but it’s a lot of fun.”

To help make the story more relatable for the audience, the story is set in the 1940s.

No matter the setting and time period chosen for the play, audiences can enjoy the wordplay and humor from the story and the characters portrayed by the actors.

“I hope (the audience will) just take away a good time and take with them a lot of laughter, a lot of hurting abdomens from all the laughing they’ll be doing,” said Nathan Beyer, who played Sir Nathaniel, a priest.

Joel Hadden, who played Lord Longaville, a friend of the king of Navarre, agreed.

“Our goal is for the audience to leave the theatre feeling witty and intelligent after listening to Shakespeare,” Hadden said. “We want everyone to enjoy this show, not just avid Shakespeare readers.”

Reichard also encourages audiences who may not be familiar with Shakespeare to go and try it.

“Everybody can enjoy Shakespeare,” Reichard said.  “That’s a complete lie that people buy into all the time: that it’s not for them, especially in a production like this that’s going to have something for everyone; it’s so much fun and it’s such a charming, quirky romantic story that can appeal to anyone.”

Through the comedy and Shakespearean language in “Love’s Labour’s Lost,” Geffken hopes the audience will see an accurate portrayal of the human condition that still rings true hundreds of years after it was first written.

“Shakespeare and his understanding of the human condition is really what makes his plays last,” Geffken said.  “… It’s the actor’s job to communicate that – there’s nothing worse than Shakespeare done poorly, and there’s nothing better than Shakespeare done well.”

“Love’s Labour’s Lost” opened on May 4 and is running at the Black Box Theater until May 13.

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